Breakout B at our #FuelPovertyConf

Breakout B at our #FuelPovertyConf is starting now. It will focus on how we improve energy efficiency and Minimum Energy Efficiency Standards for all privately rented accommodation.

It was great to be among friends old and new at @nea-ukcharity.bsky.social's conference today.

I spoke a bit about how the social housing sector is prioritising warm, safe homes. But my main takeaway is feeling energised by the dedication of so many to tackling fuel poverty. #FuelPovertyConf

"When Amazon happened we didn’t subsidise Argos" - what a line, even as an Argos lover

Meanwhile, the IFA - not famed for their alarmism, being risk specialists - conclude that the world economy could face a 50% loss in GDP between 2070 and 2090 if we don't act on climate change.

Growth doesn't eclipse net zero, it depends on it.

actuaries.org.uk/news-and-med...

Parents are doing their best to stay afloat, but winters hit hard, leaving many families in cold homes. Listen to their experiences and share to raise awareness. #ProgrammeForGovernment @changingrealities.bsky.social

'Planetary Insolvency': GDP could face a 50 per cent hit unless world acts now to curb emissions, report warns Institute and Faculty of Actuaries warns climate impacts will become 'future national security issue' unless urgent policy measures are introduced to curb emissions and enhance resilience

Finally, some projections for the economic impact of circa 3C of warming that pass the sniff test. It has long been absurd that scenarios that would basically make vast swathes of the tropics uninhabitable are estimated to knock just 2-3% off future GDP. www.businessgreen.com/news/4396351...

The gov't has published a consultation on proposed reforms to Energy Performance Certificates (EPCs)

Tell us your views & inform our consultation response via this survey➡️https://ow.ly/38vC50UAwc3

Our summary of #WhatYouNeedToKnow about the proposed reforms is available➡️https://ow.ly/PU2i50UAwc2

There is absolutely no better feeling than binge submitting consultation responses, especially on the last day before a couple of weeks off.

Another wonderful / terrible version of the now famous 'cut the green crap' graph.

We're recruiting a Policy Analyst to work with the UK government, Ofgem and other regulatory bodies to ensure that energy markets work in the best interests of the most vulnerable energy customers. Find out more about the role here: https://buff.ly/4gv6Gkp

Quite right. The amount of oxygen consumed by the standing charge review - to reach such a non-conclusion - is really quite extraordinary.

I don't think this is fair. Starmer said before entering office that clean power would involve having gas plants on standby for backup; yearly climatic variance requires a buffer of up to 5% of demand based on NESO's work. There will be years they are not needed and years when they're needed a lot.

Cheaper electricity, fairer bills Electricity prices are disproportionately higher compared to gas prices

One of our more important Nesta reports out this morning: on why we desperately need to reform levies on energy bills.

Will thread on this in a bit, but do get started on the chart-tastic report here if you have time

www.nesta.org.uk/report/cheap...

The importance of providing proper advice and support to people who are getting or thinking about getting a heat pump is the hill I will die on (if you exclude Hedgehope). Glad to see it getting more coverage.

Second, supporting the fascinating and important work of Ambient, which looks at how we can use data more creatively to identify where heat pump advice and support can be targeted.

I recommend ignoring my quote, but don't ignore the research, it's great. www.projectambient.org/data

The era of the eco-curious: Can I live more sustainably and spend less? | Aira Group Eco-curiosity grows as almost half of homeowners forced to dip into savings to pay for energy bills.

First, banging on about the importance of professional, tailored advice and handholding to help people with heat pump installations.

Thankfully, Aira condensed this down into a nice quote in their new report. company.airahome.com/newsroom/the...

I've spent some of this week masquerading as an informed commentator on heat pumps (which I most certainly am not).

Nonetheless, happy to provide some support to research papers by two fab orgs.

Social housing decarbonisation case studies: Summary report | ClimateXChange Social housing decarbonisation case studies: Summary report is among publications from ClimateXChange - Scotland's centre of expertise connecting climate change research and policy.

And if you don't mind crossing the border @mikefsway.bsky.social there are some good case studies here. www.climatexchange.org.uk/publications...

There's lots of stuff in the NEA technical team archive, as well as this, which in the final full report has a lot of cool modelling, implementation learnings, + quant/qual research with people who got heat pumps through the AWS Warm Homes Fund www.nea.org.uk/researchpoli...

Today is national #fuelpovertyawarenessday, a moment to pause and consider the impacts of fuel poverty in the UK. 6.7 million UK households, or 23%, spend more than 10% of their income after housing costs on energy.

To Leeds to see friends at the Northern Housing Consortium conference.

8/8. Full response here. @meganhinch.bsky.social is responsible for the good bits, I wrote the filler.

www.cih.org/publications...

7/x. To do all of this, folks in housing, construction, and architecture are all key stakeholders.

We’d especially like to see housing associations added to the long list of stakeholders govt mentions in the draft strategy, given how vital they are to place-based growth and community benefit.

6/x. We need good, skilled jobs available to all, which necessitates an active focus on inclusivity and how growth can benefit historically disadvantaged and underrepresented demographic and socio-economic groups.

5/x. The strategy needs a more explicit focus on inclusive growth, spread evenly across the country.

It shouldn’t pass us by that creative industries like architecture or subsectors like retrofit aren’t very diverse.

4/x. All of these subsectors - or whatever we want to call them - contribute significantly to economic activity, across the whole of the UK, and all are aligned squarely with govt’s net zero ambitions.

3/x. Subsectors of modern methods of construction (MMC), architecture, and what I have rather uselessly termed CHRDR (clean heating, retrofit, and domestic renewable technologies) have to be prioritised for support.

2/x. Aligning the industrial strategy with the forthcoming housing strategy, and ensuring the construction sector - which is still reeling from huge waves of recent challenges - can get back on its feet have to be priorities.

1/x. Housing and construction are the literal and figurative foundations on which any industrial strategy must stand.

There’s little point having super-advanced industrial clusters if there aren’t enough warm, good quality homes of all tenure nearby.